Free Hope Restrained (Estate Series) by M.S. Willis

…
    Willing her body not to react, she felt disoriented by the
drugs, the flush across her skin a result of the wisps of euphoria that still
danced lightly across her mind. Her eyes opened and then widened to see the
intensity of his stare. His eyes were the color of a deep sea, churning with
violent, impassioned thoughts. Her lip parted slightly and her body tightened
in reaction to his gaze.
    His hand ran up her leg, curving around her calf before
moving around to run along the top of her thigh. He traced his thumb along the
sensitive skin beneath, his fingernail scratching and teasing as it traveled. Her
body quivered at his touch, the hint of pain driving incessant pulses of
anticipation through a body she was having difficulty controlling.
    He pushed up, standing above her casting a shadow over every
inch of her skin. He curled the chain around his hand, tugging gently until she
stood up on shaky legs. Reaching out, he balanced her, his eyes hooding further
to see her body sway. Slowly, so slowly, she breathed, an attempt to calm the rate
of her heart that pounded like thunder in her head. He stepped backwards, his
eyes still locked to hers. Light and shadow danced across his cheekbones, the dip
of his cheeks and over the cut of his square jaw. She closed her eyes again
— her body betraying her when she couldn’t afford to let herself fall. Her
sister was too precious, the only thing good and pure in Hope’s life. But even
when her mind fought violently against the hormones crashing across her brain,
and when thought battled against instinct, she knew was losing. She looked
down, desperate to hide from his eyes. She watched as her bare feet moved over
the stone floor, until he stopped. The water beside her circulated through the
tubs, the jets creating bubbles that broke at the surface, the sound competing
against the sound of rushing blood through her head.
    “Watch your step, I’d hate for you to fall without a means
of catching yourself.” His voice was a deep timbre, vibrating against her skin
with each syllable that left his sculpted lips.
    She looked up.
    His eyes were shadowed as he stared at the belt around her
waist. He allowed his eyes to slowly turn up, to study and burn into memory
every feature of her body, until his arrogant look met the surprise in her
expression.
    She couldn’t look at him long, choosing instead to rotate
her body. Looking down at the bath, she smelled gentle fragments of spiced
scent that wafted up from the water. Her toe dipped down into the steaming
liquid when she stepped down, burning along her skin as she pushed her foot
further. The entire length of her body bucked when her ankle met the heated
pool and a ringing sounded in her ears when the pleasurable jolt traveled up
her legs, wrapping around her torso to snake up the back of her neck. His
calloused hand reached out to steady her, the rough texture making it evident
he handled weapons often. Her own hands bore those patches of skin wore hard by
the handle of a blade or a gun.
    With her body becoming immersed, the warmth of the water
seeped into her body, the ripples around her pink as it washed away the blood. She
dipped down allowing it to glide over her shoulder, hissing and biting her lip
as the crimson stain was erased from her skin. Her head fell back and her hair
became weighted, the strain to her neck only adding to the ecstasy she felt in
that moment. Allowing herself to sink beneath the surface, she contemplated
staying there, losing herself in oblivion, in numbness and an absence of
awareness. But she couldn’t leave Honor behind, couldn’t at least try to get to
her sister before they killed her. Hope’s head broke the surface of the water
and she pushed up, allowing it to fall in rivulets down her skin.
    “Turn around.” She felt the collar pull and she turned
quickly, attempting to keep from being pulled completely back. The collar spun
on her neck, the part to which the chain connected stopping on that